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uglyducklingpresse · 5 years

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Backlist Bulletin #2: Letter to the Amazon

The island—earth which is not, from which you cannot depart, that you must love because you are condemned to it. A place from which you see everything, from which you can do nothing.

— Marina Tsvetaeva (tr. Adora Phillips and Gaelle Cogan), Letter to the Amazon

I love when things are sad and gay, because I am sad and gay, but of course that is not useful. It’s not useful as a social or literary position, because one wants to refute the conflation of those qualities: Sadgay. Gaysad. I don’t want one to predicate the other. I don’t want this maudlin fatalism about the impossibility of queer love, which fuses desire and mourning. But there it is, lumped inextricably in my selfhood (and poetics) and experience. This was also, it seems, true of the experience of Marina Tsvetaeva, transgressive early 20th century Russian poet and author of Letter to the Amazon.

The “letter” is an essay, a form which already queerly troubles the boundary between public and private text. Tsvetaeva addresses Natalie Clifford Barney, a wealthy American expatriate living in Paris, responding in 1932 to Barney’s 1920 Thoughts of an Amazon, wherein Barney celebrated and valorized her lesbianism. Barney (despite or perhaps because of her position as a sexual iconoclast) was a distinguished figure in the Parisian literary scene, and held salons in her home from 1919 to 1968. Tsvetaeva encountered Barney after she came to Paris as a refugee in 1925, with her husband and daughter. Tsvetaeva, needing support, must have been aware of Barney’s resources and habit of helping unfortunate writers. Though this surely colored their relationship, they also connected as frères fèminines (Barney’s phrase) – women with deep emotional and erotic ties to other women. Tsvetaeva had connections with several poetic luminaries, but the emotional core of Letter to the Amazon is her relationship with poet Sophia Parnok, an intense love affair which spanned from 1914-1916. Parnok was 5 years older than Tsvetaeva; the common narrative is that the elder woman seduced her. The affair was public knowledge, and was painful for Tsvetaeva’s husband. Both women activated each other as muses, and despite the interpersonal and political instability which ultimately divided them, they seem to have remained major figures in each others’ emotional lives.

I don’t know, this book is weird. It’s weird, even for me, a person who is on Team Sadness, to watch someone being so at war with their own joy. Approaching Barney makes sense for Tsvetaeva. Playing into flirtation, into some underscoring of their shared idealized passion for lesbian relationships, makes sense. But Tsvetaeva is bent on an argument that lesbianism is unsustainable. Ultimately, she writes, lesbian relationships break down in the face of innate desires, in “normal women,” for family and reproduction. The essay addresses the child, the desire to reproduce the lover in the child, as an unassailable keystone in womens’ emotional lives.

I agree with the reviewers who find this disappointing. Maksymchuk and Rosochinsky, writing in LARB, argue that Tsvetaeva overlooks the Socratic claim that same-sex unions result in non-biological progeny like theory, art, and heroic acts. Emma Brown Sanders, writing for Full Stop, attacks Tsvetaeva for her formulation which suggests lesbianism is a choice, arguing that Tsvetaeva’s privileged background did not allow her to appreciate the uniqueness of her own experience, instead assuming her particular flawed relationship had universal qualities. I will say that it is hard not to argue with this book. I’ve taken it a little personally.

What bothers me about Tsvetaeva’s conclusion is that she is a person of dazzling intelligence, capable of striking leaps and lateral, associative movement. This is clear in her poetry. From “Poems to Chekoslovakia” (tr. Kaminsky/Valentine):

Black mountain

blocks the earth’s light.

Time—time—time

to give back to God his ticket.

I refuse to—be. In

the madhouse of the inhumans

I refuse to—live. To swim

on the current of human spines.

...

•

They took—suddenly—and took—openly—

took mountains—and took their entrails,

they took coal, and steel they took,

they took lead, and crystal.

And sugar they took, and took the clover,

they took the West, and they took the North,

they took the beehive, and took the haystack

via Poetry Foundation

How is this person, so evidently brave and wild, content to say that lesbianism is subservient to natural laws when her own experience should have shown her otherwise? How can she resign herself to say;

Love in itself is childhood. Lovers are children. Children do not have children… One cannot live off love. The one thing that survives love is the child.

In her introduction, Catherine Ciepiela notes that parts of this argument are prescient, as the movement for queer rights has focused largely on respectability politics in exchange for assimilation—gay marriage, adoption, valorizing heterosexual family systems by aping them. (Gross.)

What allows this text to become interesting to me, despite its irritating qualities, is the feeling that I am watching a brilliant, passionate person at war with themselves. There are some texts that are centrally important to me as a writer, from the Black Arts movement, where the primary emotional action is vaguely similar: an internalized racism becoming a violent attack on the self. It feels like I’m seeing something forbidden, something private. How much can I watch someone hate themselves, I wonder, reading Funnyhouse of a Negro, or Baraka’s The Slave. Although Tsvetaeva faces different societal pressures, and does not allow herself the same level of emotional directness, the rejection and erasure of the self feels the same. She uses a huge and elemental language which makes it feel fatalistic and impersonal. Near the end of Letter to the Amazon:

Toward evening the mountain flows back completely toward its peak. When night comes, it is peak. It seems that its torrents are flowing backwards. At night she pulls herself together.

…

Weeping willow! Mournful willow! Willow, body and soul of women! Mournful nape of the neck of the willow. Grey hair in front of the face, so that nothing more is seen. Grey hair sweeping the face of the earth…

(p. 30)

There is a similar quality, here, with the Black Arts writers I mentioned, of a poisonous secret that the writer is both trying to uncover and trying to keep obscure even to themselves. Aside from the difference in tone, there is another important distinction between these types of self-attack: what Tsvetaeva gets from this negation of herself is a kind of safety. A woman who loves women and is able to stop, or at least to stop being in sexual relationships with women, can be readmitted into society. She can become invisible within heteropatriarchy, whereas Baraka and Adrienne Kennedy could never render themselves invisible enough to be subsumed comfortably into the racial landscape of America. Tsvetaeva gestures towards some regret, some way that heterosexual connections lack the compelling depth and completeness of lesbian relationships, but she never admits to the safety, ease, and invisibility that returning to a heterosexual marriage affords. She frames this return to a conventional family as foregone, an extension of the tragic unsustainability of lesbian relationships. And that engenders in me something like pity for this fierce doomed creature. She is comforting herself, in the precarity of her life in poverty, her refugee status, her regret-tinged marriage. At least in the domain of her own sexuality, she can protect herself, albeit through disfigurement and compartmentalization. Has she won, then, at sad gayness, by claiming an agency over her own erasure? “Why did she come?” she wonders, parenthetically. “To hurt herself. It is, sometimes, all that we have left.” (p 23)

— C. Bain

The Backlist Bulletin is a weekly column on titles from UDP’s back catalogue, curated and written by Apprentices.

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redcarpetview · 6 years

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THE “2018 AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS®” TO HONOR ARETHA FRANKLIN WITH SPECIAL TRIBUTE

Rickey Minor on board as Musical Director

The Live Broadcast Will Air Tuesday, October 9th at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC

Los Angeles (October 4, 2018) – dick clark productions and ABC today announced an all-star lineup of soul and gospel legends who will come together to pay homage to the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, at the “2018 American Music Awards.” Gladys Knight, Ledisi, Mary Mary, Donnie McClurkin and CeCe Winans, friends of the late, luminary singer/songwriter, will take the AMAs stage for a moving tribute honoring Franklin’s gospel roots and iconic gospel album, Amazing Grace. Consulting Producer for the tribute is the Emmy Award® winning music director, composer and producer, Rickey Minor. Hosted by Tracee Ellis Ross, the “2018 American Music Awards,” the world’s largest fan-voted awards show, will broadcast live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Tuesday, October 9, 2018 at 8:00 p.m. ET on ABC.

“We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the American Music Awards, dick clark productions and American Music Awards’ producer, Larry Klein, for honoring Aretha Franklin with a musical tribute for this year’s broadcast,” said Sabrina Owens, Franklin’s niece and executor of the Aretha Franklin Estate. “Throughout its 46-year history, the American Music Awards has continued to stand by the music and honor the best in talent and the greatest in popular music culture. When I heard some of the initial ideas for the tribute, I knew without a doubt that this tribute will go down as one of the best in American music.” Owens adds, “We still remember when Aretha won her first American Music Award in 1976 for Favorite Female Artist – Soul/R&B, and throughout the years, she went on to win five more awards and we will never forget when she hosted the show; as well as her memorable performances. Dick Clark helped to revolutionize American music, and along the way, Aretha Franklin was part of that revolution.”

“It’s a blessing to be a part of this moving musical tribute to honor our late queen and sister, Aretha,” said Gladys Knight. “She was an icon and visionary, radiated light and love through all of her life’s work, and touched all of us through her incredible gift of music.”

“Aretha was the voice of a generation,” said music director, composer and producer, Rickey Minor. “She transcended racial barriers by reaching into the depths of her soul and taking us on a journey with every note she sang. Her spirit will live forever in her music.”

Aretha Franklin, The Queen of Soul. Photo courtesy of the AMAs.

One of the most iconic voices in music history, Franklin accumulated six American Music Awards in her lifetime, including Favorite Female Artist – Soul/R&B (1976, 1977, 1984 and 1986), Favorite Female Video Artist – Soul/R&B (1986) and Favorite Album – Soul/R&B (1983). She served as host of, and performed on, the AMAs in 1976 and 1983, and last performed on the AMAs stage in 1986. Franklin left a resounding mark on the music world and beyond, also garnering an induction into the Rock and Roll and Rhythm and Blues Halls of Fame, a Kennedy Center Honor, a Presidential Medal of Freedom and by utilizing her voice for social issues including civil and women’s rights.

The great ones endure, and Gladys Knight has long been one of the greatest. Very few singers over the last fifty years have matched her unassailable artistry. This seven-time Grammy winner has enjoyed #1 hits in Pop, Gospel, R&B and Adult Contemporary, and has triumphed in film, television and live performance. Fall of 2015 marked the release of Knight’s first mainstream dance record, “Just A Little” in nearly twenty years. The song serves as lead single from her twelfth studio album that she is currently working on. Knight, who is a two-time Grammy winner in the gospel category, yet again embraced her gospel roots, releasing her inspirational album “Where My Heart Belongs,” in September 2014. The album was a major success and won an NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Gospel Album.” All told, Knight has recorded more than 38 albums over the years, including four solo albums during the past decade: “Good Woman” (1991); “Just for You” (1994); the inspirational “Many Different Roads” (1999); and “At Last” (2001). “At Last” showed the world that she still has what it takes to record a hit album, employing the talents of contemporary producers like Randy Jackson, Gary Brown and James D.C. Williams III, Jon John, Jamey Jaz, Keith Thomas, Tom Dowd and Tiger Roberts. Her involvement in other creative undertakings, business ventures and humanitarian activities has been extensive, and has brought her honors from industry and community alike.

Ledisi is a 12x Grammy-nominated vocal powerhouse who has wowed fans ever since she came onto the scene. She’s earned a place in the pantheon of the best soul singers of her generation. Ledisi is a favorite of The Obamas and has performed eight times at the White House. Her fans include icons, legends and current chart-toppers like the late- Prince, Patti LaBelle, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder and more. She has headlined two national sold-out tours, performed alongside Richie Sambora, Dave Matthews, Kelly Clarkson, Jill Scott, Maxwell and many more. She’s appeared on nationally recognized shows like Good Morning America, HARRY, The David Letterman Show, The Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and VH-1’s Diva’s Live to name a few. In 2015 she appeared in the Oscar-nominated movie Selma as Mahalia Jackson and is currently starring in Gabourey Sidibe’s Shatterbox Anthology film, The Tale Of Four. Ledisi released her ninth Grammy nominated studio album Let Love Rule, which features John Legend, Kirk Franklin, and B.J. The Chicago Kid among others. The album received three GRAMMY nominations in the “Best R&B Album,” “Best R&B Performance” (High), and “Best Traditional R&B Performance” (All The Way) categories.

Ledisi. Media Image.

Mary Mary is the multi-Grammy® and multi-award winning Gospel recording, sister duo of Erica and Tina Campbell. The sisters broke through in 2000 as Mary Mary with the pioneering hit “Shackles (Praise You).” Mary Mary has earned numerous Stellar & Dove Awards, four Grammy® Awards, three NAACP Image Awards, two American Music Awards, a Soul Train Award, a BET Award, the BMI Trailblazers of Gospel Music Award, ASCAP Golden Note Award and more. After seven Mary Mary albums and a lifetime–18 plus years of professionally singing–the commercially successful and critically acclaimed Mary Mary has sold more than 5 million albums, toured internationally, graced the covers of multiple high-profile magazines and both have recently launched successful, award-winning solo careers. Erica Campbell’s solo debut album, Help, won a 2015 Grammy® Award for Best Gospel Album. Erica is the host of the nationally syndicated radio show, “Get Up! Mornings with Erica Campbell.” In 2015, Tina Campbell independently released her solo debut album, It’s Personal, winning the 2016 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Gospel Album. Her single, “Too Hard Not To,” from her follow-up album, It’s Still Personal, received a 2018 Grammy® nomination for “Best Gospel Performance/Song. Erica and Tina continue to perform as Mary Mary while embracing their solo careers. They are loving wives and mothers who are devoted to their faith and their families.

The three-time Grammy winner, Donnie McClurkin, debuted as a solo artist in 1996 with his self-titled album Donnie McClurkin, featuring mega-hits Stand and Speak To My Heart. Before launching his solo career, he started the New York Restoration Choir and recorded his first album, I See A World that contained the original version “Speak To My Heart.” The gospel anthems, We Fall Down and Great Is Your Mercy, both from the top-selling Live In London And More album was released in 2000. The acclaimed gospel singer won his first Grammy in 2004 for Again for Best Soul Traditional Gospel Album. McClurkin’s double CD, Psalms, Hymns & Spiritual Songs earned a Grammy in 2006 as Best Traditional Gospel Album. In 2010, he accepted his third Grammy (Best Gospel Performance) for Wait on the Lord, featuring Karen Clark Sheard from his We Are One: Live in Detroit album. His other top honors include over 12 Stellar Awards; two BET Awards, three NAACP Image Awards, two Soul Train Awards and three Dove Awards. He appeared as a judge on BET’s Sunday Best for six seasons 2010-2015. McClurkin is currently in the recording studio, look for new music in 2019.

CeCe Winans. Photo by Naomi Richard.

CeCe Winans has released a slew of duo and solo albums that crossed genres and boundaries and influenced a generation of gospel and secular vocalists. Her mantel today holds a staggering 12 GRAMMY Awards, 23 Dove Awards, and seven Stellar Awards. She’s been inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, Hollywood Walk of Fame and Nashville Music City Walk of Fame, in addition to being named a Trailblazer of Soul by BMI and garnering multiple NAACP Image Awards, Soul Train Awards, Essence Awards, and more. She’s sold in excess of five million albums in the U.S. alone, topping the Gospel charts repeatedly while managing to cross over with smashes like “Count On Me,” her stunning duet with Whitney Houston from the multi-platinum ‘Waiting To Exhale’ soundtrack, which sold two million copies and cracked the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and Adult Contemporary charts. She touched millions more with inspirational performances everywhere from Oprah to The White House, and even showed off her acting chops on television series like ‘7th Heaven’ and ‘Doc.’ In 2016, Winans became a member of the Artist Committee for the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors. Winans’ upcoming project, Something’s Happening! A Christmas Album is scheduled for release on October 19th.

Rickey Minor is a composer and Emmy Award winning Music Director who’s worked with such renowned recording artists as: Whitney Houston, Adele, Rihanna, Demi Lovato, Keith Urban, Diana Ross, Katy Perry, Aretha Franklin, Jennifer Lopez, Little Big Town, Stevie Wonder, Arianna Grande, Carrie Underwood, Sting, John Legend, Common, Elton John, Andra Day, Usher and Beyoncé. His numerous television credits include The Tonight Show starring Jay Leno, The Emmys, American Idol, The American Music Awards, and The Kennedy Center Honors. In addition, he has worked on several major live events and award shows, including some of the most memorable Super Bowl and Grammy Award performances. He has received seven Emmy Award nominations and one win for Outstanding Music Direction — Genius: A Night for Ray Charles, An Evening of Stars: A Tribute to Chaka Khan, The 50th Annual Grammy Awards, The 51st Annual Grammy Awards, The Smithsonian Salutes Ray Charles: In Performance at the White House, Stayin’ Alive: A Grammy Salute to the Music of the Bee Gees, Taking The Stage: African American Music and Stories That Changed America.

Gladys Knight, Ledisi, Mary Mary, Donnie McClurkin and CeCe Winans join previously announced performers Benny Blanco with Halsey and Khalid, Cardi B with Bad Bunny and J Balvin, Mariah Carey, Post Malone featuring Ty Dolla $ign and Carrie Underwood, with additional performers to be announced.

The American Music Awards winners are voted entirely by fans. Voting is now open in all categories.

For New Artist of the Year presented by Capital One® Savor® Card, Favorite Social Artist presented by Xfinity and Collaboration of the Year, fans can vote for each award 100 times per day, per voting platform in one or both of the ways below. Fans can vote for all other awards once per day, per voting platform.

· Via web at com

· Posting a tweet on Twitter that includes the nominee’s name or Twitter handle, the category name and #AMAs within the tweet

Voting for New Artist of the Year presented by Capital One Savor Card and Collaboration of the Year will close on Tuesday, October 9 at 5:59:59pm PT, one hour into the live broadcast. Voting for all other categories will close on Thursday, October 4 at 11:59:59pm PT.

American Music Awards nominees are based on key fan interactions as reflected on Billboard.com, including streaming, album and digital song sales, radio airplay, social activity and touring. These measurements are tracked by Billboard and its data partners, including Nielsen Music and Next Big Sound, and reflect the time period of September 15, 2017 through August 9, 2018.

YouTube Music is the presenting sponsor of the “2018 American Music Awards.”

Capital One Savor Card and Subaru of America, Inc. are sponsors of the “2018 American Music Awards.” Media partner is Cumulus Media/Westwood One

The “2018 American Music Awards” is produced by dick clark productions. Barry Adelman, Mark Bracco and Tracee Ellis Ross are Executive Producers. Larry Klein is Producer.

For the latest American Music Awards news, exclusive content and more, be sure to follow the AMAs on social and join the conversation by using the official hashtag for the show, #AMAs.

Facebook: Facebook.com/AMAs

Twitter: @AMAs

Instagram: @AMAs

Snapchat: TheAMAs

YouTube: YouTube.com/TheAMAs

Tickets are now on sale at www.axs.com.

About the American Music Awards

The American Music Awards, the world’s largest fan-voted award show, features performances from today’s hottest artists and presents fan-voted awards in the music genres of Pop/Rock, Alternative Rock, Country, Rap/Hip-Hop, Soul/R&B, Adult Contemporary, Contemporary Inspirational, Latin, EDM and Soundtrack, and the categories of Artist of the Year, New Artist of the Year presented by Capital One Savor Card, Collaboration of the Year, Tour of The Year, Favorite Social Artist presented by Xfinity and Favorite Music Video. The American Music Awards pays tribute to today’s most influential and iconic artists. The show is produced by dick clark productions and is seen in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. For more information, visit www.theamas.com, www.dickclark.com or abc.go.com/shows/american-music-awards.

About dick clark productions

dick clark productions (dcp) is the world’s largest producer and proprietor of televised live event entertainment programming with the “Academy of Country Music Awards,” “American Music Awards,” “Billboard Music Awards,” “Golden Globe Awards,” “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest” and the “Streamy Awards.” Weekly television programming includes “So You Think You Can Dance” from 19 Entertainment and dcp. dcp also owns one of the world’s most unique and extensive entertainment archive libraries with over 60 years of award-winning shows, historic programs, specials, performances and legendary programming. dcp is a division of Valence Media, a diversified media company with divisions and strategic investments in premium television, wide release film, specialty film, live events and digital media. For additional information, visit www.dickclark.com.

About YouTube Music

YouTube Music is a completely reimagined streaming music service with music videos, official albums, singles, remixes, live performances, covers and hard-to-find music you can only get on YouTube. It’s ALL here! YouTube Music serves music based on your tastes and what’s moving the community around you. Discover something new or keep up with what’s trending. Basic functions such as playing music and watching videos are totally free, but you can upgrade to YouTube Music Premium to explore the world of music ad-free, offline, and with the screen locked. Available on mobile and desktop. For additional information, visit www.youtube.com/musicpremium.

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wionews · 6 years

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Opinion: Critiquing Rahul Gandhi is like pot calling the dynasty black

It is the time we examined the society we have created before we invoke the rather trite argument of dynastic rule to stridently criticise the Gandhis and the Congress. No doubt, the dynasty is antithetical to democratic politics. Yet, it is also true that dynastic succession is the norm outside the Indian political realm as well. Its sheer pervasiveness explains why people dismiss outright the hypocritical media outcry against dynastic succession to routinely vote paterfamilias to power, in the state as well at the Centre.

Among the media personalities, arguably the most vocal critics of dynastic succession – and the Gandhis – are two stalwarts who are guilty of what they rail against. One of them is considered the diadem of Indian journalism – he became an editor at a young age, launched a classy newspaper, joined the Congress briefly, returned to journalism and now heads a weekly newspaper in which his son is an associate editor. The other acquired from a generous industrialist, now deceased, a newspaper more than a century old. He is a member of parliament and his son is now the newspaper’s managing editor, presumably being groomed to take over from his father.

It is true the roles of political parties are remarkably different from those of newspapers. It is also possible the children of these two luminaries are prodigiously talented. It is conceivable their fathers, immune to the irresistible tug of paternal love, saw in them qualities they couldn’t in anyone who could step into their posts. Such arguments, though, echo precisely the ones the Congressmen mouth to justify the assigning of party leadership to Rahul Gandhi. He is astonishingly talented, even nonpareil, Congressmen declare earnestly.

In contrast to the Congress, the two illustrious editors run private operations and enjoy an unassailable right to choose who oversees them. Nevertheless, for many in the profession, it could well appear as examples of powerful fathers subverting the idea of meritocracy, given their inevitable role in the appointment of their children.

Might it not have been better for them to have designations which did not vouch for their journalistic excellence and which did not indicate to others that there is “space for eminence” in the two organisations, “but none for pre-eminence”? (The words in quotes belong to one of the two who used it to criticise the appointment of Rahul Gandhi as the vice-president of the Congress.) To what extent is the ethos of the two media organisations any different from the Congress whose members claim they are entitled to run their party as they desire? And to think the media isn’t just a profit-making enterprise but the watchdog of democracy!

Dynastic succession dominates the realm of religion as well. As you enter through the imposing gates of Delhi’s Jama Masjid, from the Chandni Chowk side, you will read written on a board, in a reverential tone, that the descendants of the Bukhari family have been the Imams of the historic mosque for 13 generations, beginning from 1656. Who’s to tell them that the idea of the hereditary imam is in gross violation of Islam, which decrees his selection through consultation and consensus?

Similarly, innumerable hallowed temples of India have the tradition of hereditary priests, usually belonging to the Brahmin caste, presiding over them. In 2006, the Tamil Nadu government of M Karunanidhi issued an order abrogating the unwritten principle of hereditary, familial succession to the priesthood, which was also opened to non-Brahmin castes. Obviously, the momentous nature of the order, irrespective of its eventual efficacy, was delightfully ironical, for Karunanidhi, too, acquiesced into the dynastic principle in politics.

Or take the scions of illustrious business families. Irrespective of their abilities, children often inherit companies their fathers or grandfathers established and in which ordinary shareholders are today heavily invested. Think of a businessman, owning a substantial share in an Indian corporation, who voluntarily chose to overlook his or her children at the time of passing the baton. Are we not acquainted with the phenomenon of doctors boasting flourishing clinics paying massive donation fees to ensure their children, unable to qualify for admission to government medical colleges, acquire the mandatory MBBS degree to take over from them?

At least, unlike editor-owners, priests and businessmen, the great political families of India can claim that they have to at least periodically pass the electoral test to acquire power. It is an argument Bollywood too could cite to justify their dynasties. Though children from these families don’t have to struggle for a foothold in the Hindi film industry, the longevity of their career depends on their ability to satisfy the audience. Nevertheless, their presence in Bollywood, as is true of all dynasties in every field, concentrates power in a few, skews and stifles competition. This is true of even classical music, whose practitioners can narrate the debilitating impact ordinary children of extraordinary parents have had on the talented.

India’s propensity to spawn dynasties testifies to the persistence of our feudal mindset, still intact due to our unconscionable socio-economic inequalities and the inherited ethos of our caste system, consequently ensuring the raja-praja type of relationship thrives in different modern avatars. It is through the bridging of these inequalities that we can send dynasties packing, not through hurling blunted barbs at the Gandhis and others even though we are as guilty as they are.

This article has been originally published in Fair Observer.

(Disclaimer: The author writes here in a personal capacity).

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